This disclosure relates to an improved system for mounting and aligning, in a manner that is both accurate and precise, an array of tubes used for delivering relatively small quantities of air or other fluids in various applications, as, for example, in patterning systems in which a stream of a patterning fluid such as a liquid dye is deflected from a trajectory by the impingement of a stream of a control fluid such as air.
A variety of commercially viable methods and associated machines for coloring or patterning webs of materials are known. Among such methods is that in which a plurality of individual dye jets are arranged in a linear array, referred to as a gun bar, that is positioned across the path of a moving web of a substrate to be patterned, most commonly a textile substrate such as fabric or carpeting. In one well-known system, that described in detail in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,868 (O""Neill, Jr.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,111,012 (Stewart, Jr.), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,208, 592 (Johnson, Jr.), all hereby incorporated by reference herein, the dye jets are positioned so that each individual dye stream from a respective dye jet is directed continuously onto the surface of the moving substrate web, unless the stream is deflected or otherwise interrupted by a stream of control fluid from a corresponding array of control fluid tubes that are positioned in close proximity to the emerging stream of dye from the dye jets. The individual streams of control fluid, in this case, air, are formed by a linear army of control tubes, preferably positioned in accordance with the teachings herein across the path of a moving web of textile material, so that each control tube in the array is precisely aligned with a corresponding stream of dye that is directed onto the surface of the moving web by the dye jet associated with that control tube. In accordance with electronic patterning information, pressurized air (or other control fluid) is sent through one or more of the control tubes comprising the control tube array. Because of the alignment achievable using the teachings herein, air streams emerging from any of the tubes comprising the control tube array will precisely intersect the trajectory of the dye stream and interrupt or deflect the dye stream sufficiently to prevent the stream from contacting the surface of the web for a time period corresponding to the duration of the activation of the ""control stream. Each dye jet array or gun bar is supplied with dye of a different color, and, by careful choice of the colors used to supply each array, and by using various techniques for mixing or blending the various colors on the substrate, a wide variety of different colors can be generated. By actuating individually each of the dye jets in each of the various arrays over different time intervals (thereby applying different quantities of dye in various locations on the substrate), patterns of considerable complexity may be generated.
The development described herein is also believed applicable to other discrete dye applicator patterning devices in which transverse control streams are used to control streams of colorants, such as that described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4, 923,743 to Stewart, Jr., which is hereby also incorporated by reference.
In the systems described in the above-referenced U.S. patents, the individual actuation of the dye jets is controlled by an electronic computer, which converts a desired pattern into a series of firing commands for the control streams associated with each of the individual dye jets in each of the arrays, taking into account the speed of the web as it passes under each of the arrays, the inter-array spacing, the requirements for in situ blending of various dyes to achieve the desired color as required by the patterning instructions, and other factors. As described above, a control tube adapted for carrying bursts of a pressurized control fluid is uniquely associated with each of the individual dye jets. The control tubes are oriented to provide a conduit for a stream of control fluid that is in a transverse orientation to the stream of dye emerging from the dye jet. When actuated, the stream of control fluidxe2x80x94which may be air or other fluidxe2x80x94intersects the stream of dye early in its trajectory and thereby diverts the dye stream and prevents the stream from contacting the substrate. The requirements surrounding the formation and delivery of this control stream will be discussed in greater detail below.
Important for the accurate reproduction of a desired pattern or color on a substrate is the precise and accurate delivery of the dye or other patterning fluid onto the moving substrate. In the various systems described in the above-referenced U.S. patents, that delivery not only depends upon accuracy and precision in the formation of a stream of dye, but also in the formation of an intersecting control stream that, as required, can intersect the dye stream and disrupt its trajectory onto the substrate. By so doing, the flow of dye onto the substrate may be crisply interrupted in accordance with patterning data, perhaps to be diverted into a dye recirculation system for that jet array.
The formation of such carefully formed and aimed controlled control streams can be achieved using a number of different mechanical approaches. For example, a manifold can be cast or machined with a series of apertures through which the pressurized control fluid may pass. An alternative approach that may be better suited for the formation of such fluid streams in tight quarters, or where such streams must be brought into close and precisely aligned relationship with other fluid streams, utilizes a series of aligned tubes, preferably rigid tubes, that are individually connected to a source of pressurized fluid, most frequently by means of small flexible tubes. While the use of such individual tube-based systems can afford great flexibility in the positioning of the resulting fluid streams, and can result in positioning the emerging control streams in close proximity to the dye streams they are intended to control, such systems can be subject to problems in arranging the rigid tubes in a properly aligned array, as well as problems in protecting such small diameter tubes from becoming bent.
In the past, such control stream tubes have frequently been aligned using an alignment plate having a series of precisely machined V-shaped notches, with the centerline (i.e., the axis of symmetry) of each notch corresponding to the axis of the dye stream to be controlled. Each tube in the array is positioned within a respective V-notch, which has been sized to accommodate the diameter of the tube in a way that prevents the tube from being completely contained within the notch (i.e., the depth of the notch that will accommodate the tube is smaller than the diameter of the tube). To center and immobilize the tubes within each notch, a separate confinement plate is secured to the alignment plate, forcing the tubes into the notches. In theory, this should serve to maintain the tubes in solid contact with the sides of the respective notches, thereby centering them within the notches and, presumably, aligning the tubes in a uniformly spaced, linear array.
However, this prior art method for positioning and aligning control tubes, shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,743, has been determined to be less than totally satisfactory, in that the tubes occasionally do not seat entirely within the notch, thereby resulting in a tube that is free to move within the notch. This causes both misalignment and variability in directing the control stream on an intersecting trajectory with the stream of dye from the dye jet, and results in noticeable pattern imperfections.
This disclosure addresses a system by which an army of tubes, designed to carry a control fluid such as air, can be arranged in precise linear fashion into discrete modules that can be replaced on a per-module bases, and by which any individual modules may be aligned with great precision and accuracy in relation to the respective set of dye streams to be controlled.
For purposes of this disclosure, the term dye jets shall refer to the array of orifices that direct a dye or other liquid colorant along a trajectory directed to the surface of the substrate to be colored. The term gun bar shall refer to an array of dye jets, and all dye supply and dye deflection equipment that is associated with that specific array. The term control jets shall refer to the array of orificesxe2x80x94in this case, tube orificesxe2x80x94that direct an intermittent stream of a control fluid such as air into the trajectory of the dye emanating from the dye jets. In a preferred embodiment, the patterning apparatus to which this invention is directed is comprised of a plurality of gun bars, each associated with a different color dye, that are positioned in spaced relation across the path of a moving web of textile material.